1. Field of Invention
The present invention is generally related to a lubrication and/or friction modification system provided within a non-freight carrying intermodal container.
2. Description of Related Art
Typically, rail lubricant is applied on rails of a train track (e.g., such as on top of the rails) such that non-powered wheels of one or more trailing car(s) are in contact with and pulled along the lubricated rails. This is because the rotation of the wheels of the car(s) is caused by the pulling/pushing of one or more powered locomotives. Otherwise, if rail lubricant is dispensed underneath the powered wheels of working locomotives, the risk of locomotive underperformance and train stall increases.
For at least the past 20 years, the railroad industry has focused on installing rail lubrication equipment onboard locomotives and onboard modified freight cars of a train. Generally, locomotive-mounted schemes require careful management when placing such locomotives within a length of the train. For example, if a front of the train includes two or more locomotives, i.e., a locomotive consist, the locomotive with the lubrication equipment is typically placed at a rear of locomotive consist, and the lubrication system only at the rear end of the rearmost locomotive is activated, so that the rails are correctly lubricated. Freight car-mounted schemes are similarly restrictive. For example, the lubrication equipment must be positioned in a freight car that is directly behind the locomotive(s) in order to dispense lubricant in a proper and effective manner.
Additionally, using onboard lubrication devices on locomotives and traditional freight cars can be expensive. If onboard lubrication equipment is installed onboard locomotives, generally all of the locomotives to be placed in a length of the train will have to be equipped with onboard rail lubrication systems in order to provide effective coverage of the rails with lubricant. For example, if lubrication equipment is to be installed on a three (3) unit locomotive consist that is going to be used to pull freight cars, every locomotive in the consist generally will be configured and maintained in a configuration such that any of the locomotives may be positioned as a lead locomotive, even though only the third or rearmost locomotive in the consist will be used for rail lubrication when the train is moving. This can be quite expensive because of the costs for installing lubrication equipment on each locomotive even though only the one unit in consist (i.e., rear) is used for dispensing the lubricant.
Furthermore, the lubrication equipment has to be mounted on the locomotive such that it does not interfere with locomotive dispatch and management activities. This can be cumbersome.
If onboard lubrication equipment is installed in a dedicated freight car, the installation costs may be lower than the locomotive installation costs, but the freight car with the lubrication equipment still must be properly positioned for effective rail lubrication (i.e., directly behind the locomotive(s)). This may be deemed difficult, as it will most likely require switching locomotive activities and/or switching positions of the freight car within the length of the train at origin and destination terminals.
Moreover, lubrication equipment mounted in/on locomotives and/or freight cars is highly unreliable and requires extensive equipment management controls. For example, locomotive-mounted schemes tend to subject rail lubrication equipment to high levels of shock-and-vibration when mounted on the truck assemblies at/around the traction motors. Similar shock and/or vibration may also occur to the lubrication equipment in freight car-mounted schemes. As such, the costs for installing, running, and repairing (e.g., repairing the lubricant equipment or one or more parts of the containing device itself) the lubrication equipment on locomotives and freight cars are high and can be expensive.